As the rest of the world was somberly commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ending of the World War II in August 1995, Japan's nationalists were looking smug.

No wonder. Over the past half century they have managed to get away without offering a single apology for the atrocities they committed during that war.

Perhaps they thought 50 years was long enough that their war victims and relatives would draw a line under their crimes, and forget.

They were and still are wrong.

If anything, anti-Japanese feeling is increasing. These nationalists are right to be getting more concerned. They are now being confronted by an energetic organization called the Global Alliance for the Preservation of the Truth about the Sino-Japanese War, which is pledging to reveal the gory details of Japanese war action.

Comprising thousands of proud human rights activists, teachers, lawyers, film makers, researchers, journalists, authors, officials and victims, the Alliance held its 6th international conference in Beijing last weekend. It is at the center of a movement that seeks redress, and which insists that Japan officially apologizes for the war, compensates its victims and teaches the real facts of history.

Tokyo's stubbornness in refusing to acknowledge its wrongs or apologize for them will only add to the Alliance's fervor. Japan's millions of victims and their sympathizers, believers in intellectual honesty, moral clarity and the cause of regional stability, are all welcoming the growth of the Alliance.

Three hundred people from nine countries including the United States, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand and the Netherlands took part in the Beijing conference.

Oral testimonies from a Chinese woman who survived Japan's biological warfare program were heard; a progress report from lawyer Barry Fisher, who is representing ex-Korean "comfort women," was presented; American graduate students submitted papers; a mock war crimes trial was held; and myriad other redress-related themes were given air time.

The conference attracted many young people, including Chinese-American film maker Judy Ma; Korean-American writer Sylvia Wu; and American author Daniel Barenblatt, a Harvard graduate. Their zeal shows how alive the cause remains. Of course, the callous Japanese government opposes the Alliance in favor of steady renationalization. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will continue to visit the Yasukuni Shrine. Shintaro Ishihara, notorious for denying the Nanjing massacre, could even become prime minister one day.

All the Alliance can do is to continue to organize and push for redress and apology. Japan's innocent victims deserve a decent apology and funds with which to treat their wounds. Japan's anemic democracy would only be strengthened if its politicians and electorate faced the past.

East Asia will have a more convivial future if Japan atones for its sins.

In May, two high-level panels in Japan are set to recommend that the government revises the country's constitution to permit a more robust foreign and defense policy. In August, Japanese Foreign Minister Yuriko Kawaguchi visited four Central Asian states to create the "Central Asia Plus Japan" forum; other reports said Japan was interested in procuring a naval base on Taiwan.

From China's perspective, it looks like Japan, without heeding history's lessons, is forging ahead - and in ways that could help the United States surround China almost entirely.

Unfortunately, the poverty of trust between officials is not balanced by a wealth of amity between the two peoples. In fact, the Japanese consul general in Hong Kong, Takanori Kitamura, recently took a poll that revealed that 53 percent of Chinese respondents "hate" Japan -- only 10 percent "like" it.

Given these dismal numbers, and China's surging modernization, Japan should listen to the Alliance and treat Chinese and other war victims respectfully. Otherwise, Japan's nationalists will inadvertently be the Alliance's best recruiting agents.

(China Daily September 24, 2004)